Zabriskie Point - Music From The Motion Picture Sound Track Zabriskie PointVarious ArtistsInitial release : December 1970MGM Records SE 4668ST Soundtrack LP from the movie Zabriskie Point which features one solo Garcia track and one track by the Grateful Dead. Also includes tracks by Kaleidoscope and The Youngbloods.
Tracks / Musicians
The tracks and musicians on this compilation are;
- Heart Beat, Pig Meat - Pink Floyd
- Brother Mary - Kaleidoscope
- Dark Star (excerpt) - Grateful Dead
- Crumbling Land - Pink Floyd
- Tennessee Waltz - Patti Page
- Sugar Babe - The Youngbloods
- Love Scene - Jerry Garcia
- I Wish I Was A Single Girl Again - Roscoe Holcomb
- Mickey's Tune - Kaleidoscope
- Dance Of Death - John Fahey
- Come In Number 51, Your Time Is Up - Pink Floyd
Dark Star is an excerpt from the version on Live/Dead with the following musicians;
- Jerry Garcia - guitar, vocals
- Bob Weir - guitar, vocals
- Phil Lesh - bass, vocals
- Bill Kreutzmann - drums
- Mickey Hart - percussion
- Tom Constanten - keyboards
- Pigpen - vocals, organ
Garcia plays solo on track 7, Love Scene;
Credits
Very few credits are provided for the Zabriskie Point LP;
- Music Co-ordination - Don Hall
- Liner notes - Mike Curb
For the film;
- Starring - Mark Frechette, Daria Halprin
- Writers - Michelangelo Antonioni, Fred Gardner, Sam Shepard, Tonion Guerra, Clare Peploe
- Executive producer - Carlo Ponti
- Director - Michelangelo Antonioni
For the original recording of Dark Star;
- Produced by: The Grateful Dead, Bob Matthews, Betty Cantor
- Engineered by: Bob Matthews and Betty Cantor
Notes
The version of Love Scene released here was Garcia's first released solo recording.
Garcia's Love Scene material was recorded on January 20, 1970.
The liner notes for the extended release of Zabriskie Point include comments by Don Hall, the musical coordinator for the film, on Garcia's inclusion; Michelangelo liked The Grateful Dead, and I had a friend who lived across the street from Jerry at the time. He talked to him about the movie and we got together. It was almost done as an afterthought. Michelangelo wasn't even in town when we did the music; he was back in Rome.
We went into the large studio at MGM, which they usually used for the symphony orchestras. And Jerry sat there by himself, on a stool, laying it down. They had the love scene on a loop, and he played live while the film was running. He didn't want to do it away from the film and then cut things in. He played right to every single shot in the scene. That's why there are certain notes over certain frames, over people moving in the desert. He played right while watching it. It was miraculous -- pure genius.
In an interview with Rolling Stone in 1969 Antonioni said;I don't like music that makes a commentary on the film. Of course there will be rock music in [Zabriskie Point] as heard on the radio or record players. That's just natural. But I don't necessarily want a rock score. That would be too easy, too obvious.
The booklet with the new release also includes a section by Deborah Koons Garcia entitled Jerry Garcia: A RemembranceBack in 1974 when Jerry and I were first getting to know each other, he was beginning to experience more intensely the ups and downs of success and fame. The best of the upside for Jerry was the increased opportunity to do interesting work, and working with Michelangelo Antonioni on the soundtrack for Zabriskie Point had been a definite highlight. He told me in 1970 (or '69) that Lenny Hart, who then managed The Grateful Dead, had mentioned to him that "some Italian guy has been calling, wanting you to work on a film soundtrack." When Jerry found out this Italian guy was Antonioni, he immediately said yes, of course, he would be thrilled to be involved in the project.
So Jerry went to L.A. and set up in a huge soundstage with Antonioni and played. He was pleased with his work, proud to be part of the film, and honored to have worked with the director. I remember, prevideo, Jerry taking me to see old Antonioni films like Red Desert (Il Deserto Rosso) at repertory houses. Of course we saw The Passenger as soon as it came out and marveled at its great style. Jerry was a true film buff and appreciated both the artistic and technical aspects of this most difficult craft. Seeing and talking movies with him was always fun.
When I watch Zabriskie Point on video, I think back to the first time I saw it in 1970 when I was in college, when I was the same age and generation as the people in the film. I too sat through endless meetings, went on strike, challenged the system, and felt there were two worlds: the straight world and our world. I can hardly remember how it felt to be so open and free and trusting. How lucky we were to have been that age at that particular time. Of course, today it seems we were naïve, lacking in wisdom, discrimination, and good sense. Still, watching Zabriskie Point now has made me fall in love with my generation all over again. We were all so young and beautiful, and time was on our side.
Reissues
Reissued in 1986 in Europe on LP and CD as MCA 25032
Reissued in 1997 in an extended format on double CD by Turner Entertainments R2 72462 / 7243 8 23364 2 6
Related releases
The Dark Star extract was taken from the Grateful Dead album;
- Live Dead, Grateful Dead, 1969, Warner Bro. 2WS 1830
Zabriskie Point was reissued in 1997 in an extended format on double CD with the second CD containing extra sections by Garcia and Pink Floyd;
The Dark Star excerpt and Garcia's Love Scene were both included on two compilation albums;
Love Scene was also included on;
The Zabriskie Point movie has been released on video;
Sugar Babe was originally released on;
Sugar Babe was subsequently included on;
|
Buy the extended CD version from amazon.com 
|
tracks / musicians